A Foreign Affair; Helena van Doeverenplantsoen 3, The Hague

The midterm presentation by the last year’s fine arts students of the Royal Academy of Arts (KABK) in The Hague takes place this weekend (today until 6 pm.)

The show is in the former school where Billytown and Stichting Ruimtevaart have settled down recently.

This is clearly a good environment for arts students to present their work.

In spite of the enormous variety of voices, ideas, styles and disciplines they seem to have co-operated well in sharing the space.

That doesn’t mean the different spaces and rooms are ideal; especially the lighting is problematic in many places.

However, as the students are still in a stage of development for their graduation show this kind of improvisatory space may work inspiring.

I especially missed some performances as i always seem to be too early or too late for them, but the whole show can easily be seen in a relatively short time.

Quite a few works are clearly in a state of development, but then any work of art is a development, even if it looks finished.

When i visited yesterday, one of my best experiences was a completely unphotographable work by Yukari Nakamichi in which the concentration of making is transferred very closely to the visitor, although i think the experience is best when entering Nakamichi’s work on your own, without company.

A Foreign Affair 25 Michelle-Ann De Coeyere — Michelle-Ann De Coeyere

The whole show is an excellent appetiser for next year’s graduation show, and as such shouldn’t be missed.

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to the artists and the KABK, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Sam Lock, unremembered; Twelve twelve gallery, The Hague

Technically Sam Lock’s present solo exhibition at Twelve twelve gallery differs quite a lot from last year’s, which featured works on paper.

Now Lock (1973) shows works in different techniques, amongst them paintings and sculptures.

As usual the sculpture tends to dominate the show in that it gives direction to the sight lines.

Especially in this city near the sea Lock’s works seem to remind you of the coast and its natural processes in light and gestures.

Even though their titles mostly don’t refer to the sea, his sculptures may recall the surf along the coastline.

Like his other works they monumentalise the short moment of a gesture and sunlight.

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to Sam Lock and Twelve twelve gallery, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague #78

The railway line from Amsterdam to Rotterdam via The Hague was built in the mid nineteenth century, east of the city, outside the then built-up area.

Nowadays, of course, there are many residential and industrial areas around and east of the railway.

These urban developments have caused many traffic problems, and here are some pictures of one of the solutions.

This is the tramway tunnel and crossing, just south of Hollands Spoor railway station, under and along the railroad, built in 1995.

The whole complex exists of a tunnel, a viaduct and ramps.

© Villa Next Door 2018

All pictures were taken in March 2017

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague from #72 onwards: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

De opmaat (The Anacrusis / The Start Off), The First 10 Years of LhGWR; LhGWR, The Hague

For an anacrusis ten years may be a bit long but LhGWR has probably found itself cocooned in its gallery and wants to fly out now like a butterfly.

Of course that should be respected, but on the other hand it is a bit sad to see a good platform for photography go, as this is LhGWR’s last exhibition in its gallery.

It is sad because LhGWR like no other place in The Hague, and like just maybe a few other places in the country, has shown its audience what style is in contemporary photography.

Style in photography is not stylishness or an aesthetic hype; it is a way of finding balance in a chaotic world, basically by means of looking through a lens.

Photography, as such, is a reflective medium par excellence, both technically and philosophically.

In this last bow LhGWR shows works by ten of its artists with whom they have intensively co-operated through the years.

The works presented are by Karianne Bueno, Sarah Carlier, Pierre Derks, Sjoerd Knibbeler, Thomas Kuijpers, Lana Mesić, Krista van der Niet, Daan Paans, Marleen Sleeuwits and Nadine Stijns.

The exhibition lets the works speak for themselves without bothering much about names and titles (so i stick to that same principle in this case), but to regular visitors they will be recognisable or even familiar.

In the mean time i hope to see and hear more of future initiatives by LhGWR, maybe even in this village of pomp and rubbish.

© Villa Next Door 2018

Contents of all photographs courtesy to the artists and to LhGWR, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Postings about LhGWR in Villa Next Door 2: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/tag/lhgwr/

Postings about LhGWR in Villa Next Door: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/tag/liefhertje-en-de-grote-witte-reus-lhgwr/

Postings about LhGWR in Villa La Repubblica (in Dutch): https://villalarepubblica.wordpress.com/tag/lief-hertje-en-de-grote-witte-reus-lhgwr/

E-Witness, Women and War; Quartair, The Hague

E-Witness is a one week event organised in co-operation with amongst others the artist initiative Art Ze-An from Seoul, South Korea and Theatre of Wrong Decisions from the Netherlands and hosted by the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) and Quartair.

Quartair has the exhibition part.

The show reflects on the role of women in war.

According to the exhibition text the cardinal question is “How can we analyze mechanisms of power and abuse both from the past and the present, towards the future?”

As usual the way to find an answer is more interesting than the answer itself.

It results in an interesting exhibition with works varying from very expressive to very hermetic.

The works by the Koreans reflect, as far as it is manifest, on the victim role of Korean women during the Japanese occupation and the Korean War.

With such a heavy and still open historic trauma it is probably difficult not to reflect on.

As such the danger is that too little attention is given to the present position of women in war, or even at war, and to a diversion from the victimhood that is too narrow a focus to assess the role of women (or others) in war.

Most works are interesting, but some need more explanation.

For instance, the untitled video work by Min Cheol-hong looks quite wonderful but what is the connection with the issue?

Even one of the most beautiful works in the show, Bouquet of Memories by Kim Su-hyang, surely has more to say than just itself.

The works are still on show over this weekend.

Contents of all photographs courtesy to the artists and to Quartair, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Anne Forest, I am with name; Heden, The Hague

Two years ago Anne Forest (1983) had an exhibition in Heden about which i wrote that her work had “matured considerably,” that her style was “immediately recognisable” but “also manoeuvrable.”

Well, in her present show at Heden one could say she is still manoeuvring at different levels.

In two paintings she seems to make more of a perspective space around her figures and there she enters uncertain terrain that seems to be alien to her icon-like style.

Are these the margins of her style?

That is all the more important as her best works create a space of their own around them by themselves.

Content of all pictures courtesy to Anne Forest and Heden, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague #77

Façade of an apartment block, Dunne Bierkade, originally first half of the 19^th century.

It underwent some changes, most notably in converting the ground floor into a restaurant.

For a long time the house served as temporary lodgings for the homeless or the penniless and its ground floor as a restaurant for the less well to do.

Since 2009 it housed the reputable vegetarian restaurant De Zon (The Sun), which closed its doors last summer.

It has been replaced afresh by a new restaurant recently.

All pictures were taken in March 2017

Bertus Pieters

Façades of The Hague from #72 onwards: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/

Façades of The Hague #1 – 71: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/category/facades-of-the-hague/